The poll of 7,982 US consumers by the company BIGresearch showed Barbie remained the most sought after toy for girls, with the rival Bratz dolls in second place, generic dolls in third place followed by Dora the Explorer and Disney Princess.
But for boys there was a bit of a shake-up in the annual list with last year's favorite, TMX Elmo, losing out to Transformers, like the Autobots and Decepticons, made popular by the movie of the same name.
Coming second on the boys' wish-list was video games overall and the top 10 also included two games consoles - the Nintendo Wii and Microsoft's XBox 360.
The National Retail Federation, a retail trade association which commissioned the annual survey, said the best advice for parents was to shop early so they did not miss out on their children's favorites.
"It's always a race for parents to find the year's sought after toys," said NRF President and CEO Tracy Mullin in a statement.
Newcomers to the girls' list this year were toys involving Disney singing star Hannah Montana, and the popular Webkinz animals that come with a special code to give access to Webkinz World online.
Cars, Spider-Man and LEGOs also featured in the boys' top 10 wish lists.
This year's top 10 holiday wish-lists:
GIRLS:
1. Barbie
2. Bratz
3. Dolls （generic）
4. Dora the Explorer
5. Disney Princess
6. Disney Hannah Montana
7. Nintendo Wii
8. Webkinz
9. Elmo
10. American Girl
BOYS:
1. Transformers
2. Video Games
3. Nintendo Wii
4. Cars （generic）
5. Spider-Man
6. LEGOs
7. Thomas the Tank Engine
8. Xbox 360
9. Elmo
10. Remote Controlled Vehicles
